No. 6094 53 Alban Street, April 18, 2005.
Date of construction: 1888
Architect: H. G. Wadlin
In the appendix to The Second Settlement, Shand-Tucci cites an inspection report from 1888 showing H.G. Wadlin architect and F. A. Wyman owner.
The following is from Ashmont by Douglass Shand-Tucci, p. 97-98
The lady who so kindly left us this reminiscence was Dorothy Wyman Martin, who grew up at 53 Alban, the Wyman House, the elegantly painted house with the distinctive front gable that stands just beyond the Atwood House. Mrs. Martin wrote in 1972:
When my father built the house at 53 Alban Street … on Ashmont Hill, it was considered a fashionable area. I believe the house was built between 1884 and 1885. Previously [my parents] had lived at Union Park, Boston. … My father chose Ashmont because of its nice neighborhood, good space of available land and fast train service to Boston. … Ashmont Hill had established families living there … and others who were prominent. … My father bought land on the south slope of the hill which had been the orchard of the Welles Farm. … The apple trees in the orchard were said to be about 150 years old when father bought the property. He had the Davey Tree Surgeons repair the old trees from which we had an annual crop of 31 barrels of magnificent apples. The trees were still bearing fine fruit when I sold our home in the late 1930s. Father built our house for my grandmother Wyman. There was a stable built for four horses. We raised all our fruit and vegetables in our garden. Besides apples we had an ancient cherry tree … as tall as the house there were plum, peach and pear trees. … All the neighbors we knew at Ashmont Hill kept maids, or at least one maid anyway, and those who had horses had a coachman, or else kept a horse in the livery stable near Peabody Square. With the advent of automobiles some coachmen became chauffeurs.
According to extant records the house was actually built by Mrs. Martin’s father Franklin Wyman (hides and leather, 82 High Street; later, wool and sheepskins, 263 Summer Street), from plans drawn by H. G. Wadlin of Boston in 1888, and the stable four years later. But the value of the reminiscence is in the feeling for the area she convey and in the firsthand memories.
Thanks to this reminiscence, we know, for example, that Mrs. Martin’s mother was the daughter of Gardner Asaph Churchill, a leading Boston printer (King’s Handbook of Boston in the 1880s devotes two pages of encomia to this famous firm), who lived across the street in the Churchill-Dewey House, 44 Alban. She was married to Franklin Wyman in that gorgeous ca. 1880 house, the true Stick Style gem of Ashmont Hill, with its square tower and turret, so well maintained today.
The following is from the area form for Ashmont Hill, Boston Landmarks Commission.
53 Alban Streetis a wood shingle covered Queen Anne house with a highly irregular form. Its main facade features a full length enclosed and partially open front porch with high shingle covered railings which short Tuscan columns The enclosed portion of the porch bulges out in a polygonal shape. Still intact are the slate shingles of both the porch roof and main block’s intersecting hip and gable roof. Above the porch are polygonal bays of unequal width.The broader of the two oriels is surmounted by a jerkin head gable and contains wavy pattern shingles. The narrower bay exhibits an ornamental checkerboard panel on its solid, center facade and is enclosed by a low pyramidal roof cap. Projecting from near the center of the main facade’s roof slope is a tall corbelled brick chimney.
53 Alban Street was built in 1888 from designs provided by Boston architect H. G. Waldin. It was built by Franklin Wyman, dealer of hides and leather, 82 High Street; later, wool and sheepskins, 263 Summer Street. This house was built on part of the orchard of the old Welles estate and was said to have had 150 year old apple trees on this property when it was first built. Franklin Wyman, married the daughter of Gardner Asaph Churchill, a leading Boston printer who lived across the street in 44 Alban Street.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 1998
Year Built: 1888
Architect: H.G. Wadlin
Style: Queen Anne
From the gardens of this house breathes an almost tangible serenity. Front yard plantings include a mixed border of shrub roses, perennials and annuals, while plant materials in the rear yard are a mélange of flowers and foliage of differing shapes and textures. A columned pergola defines the terrace that rings the fish pond nearest the house, while a wall fountain lends sculptural interest. The glazed porch spanning the front of the house is maintained as a conservatory, suitable for the tropical plants that thrive there.
Venturing inside, double parlors with original mantels and early electric chandeliers lie to the right of the hall; decoratively painted dining room and kitchen are to the left and rear. This centrifugal arrangement creates non-axial vistas from one room to another; note how the corner fireplaces of the far parlor and dining room appear to reflect each diagonally across the inter-connecting space. Recently remodeled to eliminate some earlier partitions, the kitchen remains highly sympathetic in feeling, echoing the proportions of the original butler’s pantry cabinetry.
The following is from: Ashmont Hill Association House Tour Guide, Sunday, May 22, 1977
Note the wavy shingle pattern on the third floor, the slate roof, and the flared chimney on this 1888 house.
The following is from: Codman Square House Tour Booklet 2006
Year Built: 1888
Architect: H.G. Wadlin
Style: Shingle Style
With its ground-hugging silhouette and wrap-around porches, 53 Alban Street exemplifies the horizontality of Shingle-style houses. The wave-pattern shingling on the front gable is another characteristic of the style. The entrance is pushed to one side; the hall within features a colorful stained glass “sunrise” window, a built-in bench, and a cloakroom with a cedar closet. An elliptical arch frames the colonial-style stairway. The first of several oak parquet floors is laid in a herringbone pattern.
Two parlors stretch across the front of the house. Connected by an archway (probably enlarged from the original opening), they are also unified by a color scheme of pale neutrals. Variations of tone and texture demonstrate that neutral need not be a euphemism for boring. A stripped pine mantel with real-blue tiles stands out against the prevailing paleness. Crystal sconces and a pair of dark-stained Aesthetic Movement chairs provide further punctuation.
In the dining room, the color scheme is reversed: white woodwork stands out against a dark wallpaper. Here the fireplace tiles, with a cherub in the center and flowers in the corners, are glazed maroon and olive green. Stained glass here is the “sunset” answer to the hallway window. A French door leads to a tiny, light-filled garden room, built as an artist’s studio. The kitchen, enlarged by a previous owner by incorporating a servants’ dining room, features a combination of tiger-maple and painted-wood cabinets set off by taupe-colored walls.
Opening off the second-floor hall is a stunning Art Deco bathroom. The original tub in its arched recess is an eye-popping violet; the reproduction WC and was basin are gleaming black. The light-filled library features handsome built-in bookshelves and another fireplace. The bedrooms have a subtle charm, with soft-colored walls, antique furniture, and simple white curtains. In the main bedroom, however, a surprise awaits: an open archway leads to a combined bath and dressing room, off which opens a glassed-in sleeping porch.
Outside the kitchen door the patio is an inviting outdoor room that complements the equally inviting rooms inside. Here is a house that seems to have led a charmed life, retaining all the delightful features added by successive owners.
Owners from atlases:
1884 53 Alban Street does not appear in 1884 atlas
1889 Dora Emerson
1894 Maria Wyman
1898 Maria Wyman
1904 Maria Wyman
1910 Maria Wyman
1918 Franklin A. Wyman
1933 Mary C. Wyman
Deed
Sept. 3, 1887 from Franklin A. Wyman to Dora H. Emerson, wife of Frank W. Emerson 1787.610 lots 230 & 231
Parcel of land
Nov. 26, 1889 from Frank W. Emerson and Dora H. Emerson to Maria Wyman, widow 1910.218
Parcel of land
Boston Directory
1887 Franklin A. Wyman, hides and leather, 82, High, h. 43 Union park
1888, 1889 Franklin A. Wyman, hides and leather, 101 High, h. Alban
1890 Franklin A. Wyman, hides and leather, 101 High, h. 53 Alban
Dorchester Blue Books
1894 Resident were Franklin A. Wyman, Mrs. J. S. Wyman
1896 Resident were Franklin A. Wyman, Mrs. J. S. Wyman
1900 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Franklin A. Wyman, Mrs. J. S. Wyman
1902 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Franklin A. Wyman, Mrs. J. S. Wyman
1904 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Franklin A. Wyman
1906 Resident was Franklin A. Wyman
1908 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Franklin A. Wyman
1910 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Franklin A. Wyman
1913 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Franklin A. Wyman
1915 Residents were Mr. & Mrs. Franklin A. Wyman
Census 1900
Maria Wyman, 75
Franklin Wyman, 48, son
Mary Wyman, 36, daughter-in-law
Dorothy Wyman, 11/12, grand daughter
Emma K. Johnson, 21, servant
Frederick Johnson, 22, servant, coachman
Census 1910
Franklin A. Wyman, 59, importer of wool
Mary B. Wymanm 46
Dorothy Wyman, 10
Maria Wyman, 85, mother
Census 1920
Franklin A. Wyman, 69, inspector
Mary C. Wyman, 55
Dorothy C. Wyman, 20
Franklin born October 20, 1850, in Lowell to Maria and John Wyman